Seneca: Selected Letters Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics Series

The letters of Seneca are uniquely engaging among the works that have survived from antiquity. They offer an urgent guide to Stoic self-improvement but also cast light on Roman attitudes towards slavery, gladiatorial combat and suicide. This selection of letters conveys their range and variety, with a particular focus on letters from the earlier part of the collection. As well as a general introduction, it features a brief introductory essay on each letter, which draws out its themes and sets it in context. The commentary explains the more challenging aspects of Seneca's Latin. It also casts light on his engagement with Stoic (and Epicurean) ideas, on the historical context within which the letters were written and on their literary sophistication. This edition will be invaluable for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of Seneca's moral and intellectual development.

Introduction: 1. Seneca's life and works; 2. The Epistulae Morales and their addressee; 3. Letters as a genre; 4. Stoic terms and concepts; 5. Stoic background; 6. Other philosophical influences; 7. Ethical focus and techniques of the self; 8. Seneca and earlier Latin poetic authors; 9. Senecan style; 10. Clauslae in Seneca; 11. Reception of the letters; 12. The selection; 13. The text; Epistulae Morales: Letter 1; Letter 7; Letter 12; Letter 18; Letter 21; Letter 24; Letter 33; Letter 34; Letter 46; Letter 47; Letter 53; Letter 64; Letter 70; Letter 86; Letter 90; Letter 114; Commentary.

Catherine Edwards is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London. Her books include The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge, 1993), Writing Rome: Textual Approaches to the City (Cambridge, 1996) and Death in Ancient Rome (2007). She has published and broadcast extensively on Seneca.